Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The
"Project to enhance reading skills of students in government schools"
(June 24) plans to increase reading ability in English and Hindi by requiring
teachers to give reading assignments in both languages. There is an easier,
more effective, and more pleasant way: Help students develop a voluntary,
self-selected reading habit in both languages.

A
growing body of research shows consistently that when interesting reading is
available, young people will read. It also shows that those who read more
develop higher levels of literacy, which means better reading ability, better
writing ability, larger vocabulary, better spelling, and better control of
complex grammatical structures. There is
also evidence that self-selected voluntary reading, pleasure reading, is more
powerful than assigned reading.

The
first step in making this happen is to invest in local and school libraries,
with knowledgable librarians who can help young people become dedicated
readers.

Libraries:
Krashen, S., Lee, S.Y. and McQuillan, J. 2012. Is the library important?
Multivariate studies at the national and international level. Journal of
Language and Literacy Education, 8(1): 26-36.

AJMER: The education department will soon start an
experimental 'reading project' in government schools to improve the quality of
education. The reading campaign will start from July 1 in all government
schools in state. Compulsory one-hour English and Hindi reading sessions will
be held every day in Classes I to VIII.

The department has also formulated an evaluation
system and decided grades to mark the stage of each student. Grade 'A' will be
given to students who can read both English and Hindi well. While 'B' grade for
students having problems in reading and 'C' grade for those who can not read in
any language.

The onus of transforming 'C' grade students
to 'A' grade ones will be on the teachers.

Teachers will give assignments to students to
read from English and Hindi books. "Purpose of the project is to hone the
students' skills to speak and read languages," said an official.

The experiment was initiated by the Rajasthan
Elementary Education Council. The council was worried after getting the Sambalan
Abhiyan report highlighting the inability of students up to middle level to
read Hindi properly in most government schools. Their reading skills in English
were far worse and multiplication and addition were alien to them.

Since no student upto Class VIII can be
failed, the quality of education has suffered badly, "Promoting such
students to secondary classes would have a negative impact on the board exam
results," a government school teacher said.

"An evaluation will be conducted after
every two months to assess the progress of the students," said Mahaveer
Singh Rathore, assistant coordinator of Sarva Shikha Abhiyan.

"The evaluation will be conducted by the
officials of administrative service to maintain transparency in the process. If
the students get 'C' grade then their teacher will be punished," added
Rathore.

Meanwhile, academicians are apprehensive
since most government school teachers themselves have poor pronunciation
skills.

The pilot
testing of the common core assessments did not attempt to answer the major
question of whether the tests are valid: do the tests (and standards)
contribute to higher school achievement? Previous studies confirm that more
testing does not lead to more achievement.

Administrators
pointed out that the current infrastructure is inadequate and that upgrades,
new devices and replacements will be necessary:

"'Obviously, there is concern
that if computers are three years old, they won't be able to do certain things.
So we are examining what we have in place and determining what we need to have
in place to do what we need to do with online testing.'

The district plans to upgrade its
Wi-Fi system and bandwidth this summer, he says. It is also considering buying
more devices so that students can take the online assessments in their
classrooms and in the library, rather than having them all in computer labs."

And
that this will cost quite a bit:

"Rose-Ann McKernan, the
executive director of instructional accountability for the Albuquerque schools,
says the technology director for the district is worried about server and
network capacity at the schools. Making all the necessary upgrades could cost
millions of dollars, she says.

The district could use money from
the state allocated to schools for technology to buy new computers and to make
other technology improvements, McKernan says. The district may also appeal to
the state legislature for more funds for technology improvements."

We
can expect upgrading and replacement to continue indefinitely. A boondoggle that
will last forever.

1. How much did they pay the children for their
services?

2. "You want a kid
to take a test that relates to what is going on in the classroom,"
Cummings says. "The only way to make the Smarter Balanced assessments
meaningful is if common core is effectively integrated into the
coursework." In other words, teaching to the test. More of the same.

Chuck Jordan
: Now we know why Bill Gates etc. have
"donated" so much money to "education."

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Parental input is of course extremely important, but before Highland
Park "launces Spanish classes at elementary schools," (June 17),
administrators and teachers might want to look at the research.

It is true that those who begin a second language as children
have a better chance of sounding native than those who start as adults, but
years of research on second language acquisition has shown that older acquirers
progress more quickly than
younger acquirers in the early stages (older children are faster than younger,
adults are faster than children).

Most important, those who begin second languages as adults,
given enough opportunity, can reach very high levels of proficiency in second languages.

Park Cities parents want their kids to learn foreign
languages at a younger age, and they’d like them to start with Spanish.

Ninety-one percent of Highland Park ISD parents said
in a district survey that elementary school is the most appropriate time to
begin studying a second language. Three-quarters said they would like their
children to learn Spanish, with some preferring Mandarin or French.

With that strong parent support, Highland Park ISD
administrators are planning a new elementary foreign language program. The
survey was part of a feasibility report by a committee of parents, teachers and
administrators who researched and visited elementary programs across the
country.

The committee report, presented to the school board
this month, was funded by a grant from La Fiesta de Seis Banderas, a Park
Cities nonprofit that raises money for charities. School board members
expressed support for the elementary language program and said they will
consider how to fund it.